CUCKOO. S3 



chafers, grasshoppers, butterflies, and moths ; and, like the 

 hawks and owls, the Cuckoo casts up the indigestible parts 

 of its food, in the usual form of pellets. Young birds may 

 be brought up with raw meat when kept in confinement, 

 although they are not worthy of the great trouble they occa- 

 sion. The fact that the Cuckoo does not build a nest for 

 itself, and that several small birds that feed upon insects are 

 made to hatch its eggs and to bring up its young, is suffi- 

 ciently established. 



How the female cuckoo manages to deposit her egg in the 

 nest of another bird has not been satisfactorily described : so 

 much, however., is known, that the female goes singly about 

 this business, without her mate being near ; but whether 

 this is for the purpose of watching her opportunity, or for 

 going more stealthily about her designs, is still an unanswer- 

 ed question. The number of eggs deposited by the Cuckoo 

 during the season varies from four to six ; but these are laid 

 at such distant intervals, that some may be found in May, and 

 others as late as July. It is insisted on by some persons, that 

 the Cuckoo sucks the eggs of other birds ; and to strengthen 

 this assertion, they state that they shot a Cuckoo that was ac- 

 tually in the act of carrying off an egg ; the most probable ex- 

 planation of which is, that the female Cuckoo was carrying her 

 own egg, which she had laid on the ground, to the nest of 

 some other bird ; and although no one has hitherto been 

 able to detect the whole of the proceedings of the Cuckoo, 

 it is possibly by these means that her egg is smuggled into 

 the warbler's nest. The egg of the Cuckoo is very small in 

 comparison to those of other birds of its size ; but the reason 

 for this is obvious, and it must be considered as a beautiful 

 provision of nature. The egg of this bird is readily dis- 

 tinguished from all others by the black specks and scratches 

 on its surface. It is very wonderful that small birds of 

 divers kinds should be so far imposed upon, as to spend their 



VOL. IV. D 



